Final fireworks in Dijon!

4 Hours V of V Endurance Proto: Incredible success CD Sport

At the cost of a daring strategy, Kevin Bole Besançon, Thomas Accary and Jean-Ludovic Foubert impose their Norma M20 FC n°30 CD Sport at the end of this fourth meeting of the season, exceptionally contested over a period of four hours .

Exceptional timing, exceptional strategy. If some teams, like IDEC Sport Racing, choose to send their Elite driver to the start, others, like CD Sport with the No. 30, favor the Gentleman Driver. Dimitri Enjalbert, on the Ligier JS 53 Evo 2, sets the pace in front of the No. 92 of Yann Clairay, and the crew he forms with Patrice and Paul Lafargue will permanently occupy the leading duo, until demote outside the Top-5 at 1h30 from the end depending on pit-stops and pit stop handicaps.

At this moment, the No. 15 IDEC Racing Ligier (Frédéric and Nicolas Da Rocha / Cavailhes) appears to be a serious contender for victory, while the No. 56 JRT/AB Sport Auto Norma (Domingues / Tardieu / Vozniak) can still believe in the feat. Alas, the first is the victim of a technical problem, while the second loses its footing due to too many stops to respect at the end of the course. For No. 17, the course was disrupted by a slight off-track incursion due to a puncture. The loss of time is minimal, but it will have serious consequences. By regaining the lead half an hour from the end, the die seems cast, but thanks to their offbeat strategy, the No. 30 takes the lead five minutes from the finish and, despite a final passage through the pit lane , came out in front of the #17 Ligier on the last lap. She crosses the finish line with just 5 seconds ahead of her rival and alone takes the lead in the championship.

“A crazy strategy that ultimately paid off”, rejoices Bole Besançon. “We did a great job, neither the drivers nor the team made any mistakes, and we simply attacked. I was out of radio at the end and had no idea where I was ranked. I thought I would be second, so disappointed during the deceleration lap, and it was only when I returned to the pits that I learned the happy news. »

The infernal duo finally precedes on the podium the Norma n°42 of Didier de Didier Beck / Christophe Kubrick / Xavier Michel, victorious in the Prestige ranking, the n°41 of Marc Faggionato / Jens Petersen and the n°40 of David Zollinger / Philippe Mondolot / Christian Vaglio Giors. Palmyr is back! Less success on the other hand at TFT and Graff?

3 Hours Endurance GT / Tourism: Visiom wins in the sprint

Superb victory for the Ferrari 458 GT2 n°2 in the hands of the crew Thierry Perrier / Jean-Paul Pagny / Jean-Bernard Bouvet. If the success of the Visiom team is undisputed, the fight was sumptuous at all levels of the field and the podiums uncertain until the last lap. With the arrival of LM P3, a new era begins in GT!

Placed in pole position, the n°2 must quickly give way to the Pescarolo 02 and Ginetta LMP3 who take advantage of the long Dijon straight to widen the gap. A twist of theater nevertheless occurs after only 20 minutes when the Porsche 911 GT3-R n°1, alors pilotée par Patrice Lafargue en 4e position, est percutée par un retardataire qui reprenait la piste après unesortie. Dès lors, au gré des ravitaillements et passages obligatoires par les stands, mais également des soucis qui touchent les protos (mécanique pour le premier, crevaison pour le second), la Ferrari mène son petit bonhomme de chemin et retrouve la première place à un quart d?heure de la fin. Le deuxième succès cette saison pour l?équipage – après le Mugello – qui s?empare ainsi des commandes du Challenge.

“It’s a shame that Patrice and Paul Lafargue were knocked out of the race so early, because we like to measure ourselves against them”, admits Jean-Paul Pagny. “We are back in the race, the championship is relaunched and that bodes well for the future. » The only fear for the n°2 was a slight off-track exit by Bouvet a few minutes from the finish, without consequences, which allowed her to take the checkered flag with a 56??6 lead over the n°8 Mosler. , victorious in GTV2 with Oliver Campos and KostasKanaroglou. Proof of the intensity on the track, the Escuela Espanola de Pilotos team car is only ahead of the No. 458 AF Corse Ferrari 3 GT51 of Montermini / Cordoni / Zanuttini by just a second!

Even stronger, if the second Mosler, the n°8 of de Martin / Salvadore, offers the double to the Spanish team in GTV2 by ranking 5th (behind the Mercedes n°70 of Bruno and Edwin Stucky / Yerly), the trio Van de Vyver / Carugati / Terrier (Audi R8 LMS) takes the third step of the podium in the category to the n°93 Porsche of Decultot / Fontaine in the very last loop. . The #3 Ginetta LMP671 (Lequeux / Naveaux / Robertson) ranked in 8th position and won the Protos / Silhouette ranking ahead of the #8 SFV96 from Solution F and the GC10-V8 from Gomez / Coigny.

It is now time for a well-deserved vacation for the competitors. See you at Le Castellet, from August 18 to 30, for a return to school that promises to be explosive!